Find a Topic for Your Bachelor's or Master's Thesis

How do I actually find a good topic for my bachelor's or master's thesis? What do I do if I have many ideas for a topic and can't decide? How do I know if my topic is suitable for academic research? Choosing or rejecting a topic is the first challenge for most students on the path to a successful thesis.

While the thematic direction of homework or seminar papers is predetermined by the instructor, the topic of academic thesis work is usually chosen independently. This guide helps you go from an initial idea to a good research topic – quickly, systematically, and without complications!

 

Du möchtest deine Abschlussarbeit in einem Unternehmen schreiben? Hier haben wir passende Tipps dazu:

• Writing a thesis in a company: A brief overview
• Writing a bachelor's thesis in a company: How to make it work
• Writing a master's thesis in a company: What really matters

Easy topic selection: From idea collection to concrete research in just three steps

In practice, topic search is not easy for most students and can be very time-consuming. Quick topic selection is quite important: the longer you delay this first work step of your thesis, the less time remains for the actual development.

At the beginning, there is often the problem that the chosen thesis topic should not only interest you personally, but above all must be feasible as a small independent research project. We suggest that you proceed systematically when searching for the perfect topic with the help of our guide:

 

Step 1: Collect ideas for a possible topic

First, you should create a broad collection of ideas: note down all topics that either come to mind right away or emerge during an initial search in a document on your computer. Ideally, the chosen research area should match both your personal inclinations and interests as well as illustrate the professional knowledge acquired during your studies.

The following sources can be helpful as inspiration for topic selection:

• Current research in your field (newspaper articles, specialist books and journals, podcasts, etc.): Are there questions or thematic aspects that are not sufficiently discussed in the current literature?
• Seminar and lecture content: Do you remember a particularly exciting topic from your studies that you would like to deepen? Perhaps you have even already written a seminar paper on this topic?
• Professional experience: Have you encountered a problem through a part-time job or internship that can or should be empirically investigated? Or is there a research area that is relevant to your future professional work? Is it perhaps even possible to write your thesis in a company?
• Academic advice from your faculty: Are there research projects at your university with theoretical approaches that interest you? Can you perhaps find an academic contact person there who can advise you on topic selection?
• Online service GoThesis: Here you can find many different topic suggestions as inspiration and exciting thesis projects from companies in one place. Discover topics now.

 

It's even better if you first set at least a rough topic for your thesis and only then choose a primary examiner whose academic focus matches the chosen research area.

Step 2: Narrow down idea collection & gain clarity

After you have created an idea list, you must determine for each topic you have found what exactly you want to investigate or what you want to write about specifically. Deciding on the so-called research question gives your topic a direction and forms the starting point for planning your research. Through the specific research question your topic can be defined and your research project clarified.

Am besten nimmst du dir erneut das Dokument aus Schritt 1 vor und legst nun eine Tabelle mit drei Spalten an, wobei du jedem deiner topic suggestions eine mögliche Fragestellung zuordnest – und auch Platz für spätere Notizen zulässt:

 

 

Literature tip: Berger-Grabner, Doris (2016). Academic Writing in Economics and Social Sciences. Helpful tips and practical examples. 3rd edition. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
➔ siehe vor allem Abb. 3-1 "Template for idea collection" aus dem Kap. 3.1.1 "Finding the right topic", which served as inspiration for the table mentioned above.

 

As our examples show, the same topic allows for completely different research approaches. Here you need to set a concrete substantive focus (= what is the concrete goal of your research?) and make initial methodological considerations (= what question should be answered in the paper?).

If you cannot find a suitable research question for an idea even after research, the topic is less suitable for a thesis. You should be able to exclude some of your ideas using this method. Gleichzeitig wirst du schnell merken, welches Thema und welche research question dich am meisten interessieren.

Step 3: Analyze topic & plan scientific approach

In der letzten Phase der Themenfindung musst du einschätzen können, ob das gewählte Thema überhaupt durchführbar ist und welche konkreten Methoden für die Bearbeitung der research question für dich infrage kommen. Before you finally commit to a topic, you should analyze it with regard to basic feasibility. You must consider the following questions when analyzing the topic:

1. Can you explain the topic precisely in a few sentences?
2. What is the concrete research question? What problem underlies your research? Which aspects of your topic do you NOT want to investigate or exclude from your work?
3. What is the current state of research? What literature, theories, or sources exist on your topic? Are these accessible to you at all (e.g., through the university library)?
4. What empirical method willst du für die Bearbeitung der research question einsetzen? Kannst du die gewählte Methode wie etwa die quantitative survey easily in practice (e.g. as an online survey with empirio)?
5. What grundsätzliche Rahmenbedingungen erwarten dich bei der Bearbeitung? Sind der Umfang und Schwierigkeitsgrad des Themas angemessen? Ist es für dich fachlich, zeitlich und finanziell machbar, diese Forschung durchzuführen?

 

Literature tip: Hunziker, Alexander W. (2013). Fun in academic writing. How to write a good semester, bachelor's and master's thesis. 5th edition. Zurich: SKV.
➔ vor allem Kap. III: "How do I come up with a topic?", siehe auch den Frageraster auf S. 39 - 40, von uns stark zusammengefasst und ergänzt.

 

Nutze zum Notieren deiner Antworten die 3. Spalte deiner Tabelle (siehe Schritt 2), um mehrere Themen bzw. research questionn in Bezug auf vorhandene Literatur, Daten und mögliche Vorgehensweisen miteinander zu vergleichen. Against this background, you can determine whether the work is actually feasible for you within the scheduled time frame (= usually three to six months). After that, it should not be difficult for you to select the most suitable topic from the idea catalog.

Although topic analysis also requires some time, this time is definitely well invested. Schließlich willst du nicht erst nach dem Beginn deiner Forschung feststellen, dass du eigentlich gar keine Möglichkeit hast, deine research question tatsächlich zu bearbeiten. If you still have more than one topic in the running after answering, it makes sense to consult with your academic advisor at this point!